Thursday, January 19, 2017


Hyperloop One Names New CFO, Aims At New Funding Round
Los Angeles-based HyperLoop One, the advanced transportation technology developer led by Rob Lloyd, has named Brent Callinicos as its new Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, the company said Thursday. Callinicos has been serving as a strategic advisor to the company since October. In an interview with the WSJ, Callinicos said he is coming on board as the company gears up for another funding round. The appointment comes as HyperLoop One has been recovering from a high profile leg (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 19, 2017(Full story)

Two Bit Circus Adds $15M, Plans LA Amusement Park
Los Angeles-based Two Bit Circus, the STEM-focused, entertainment company led by Brent Bushnell, has raised $15M in a Series B funding round, the company said Thursday morning. The funding was led by JAZZ Venture Partners, and also included Foundry Group, Techstars Ventures, and Intel Capital plus new investors Dentsu Ventures, Georgian Pine and others. Two Bit Circus said the funding round will go to develop "micro-amusement parks" that tap into such technologies as multi-person virtual realit (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 19, 2017(Full story)

How Amavitae Wants To Help Youth Find A Career They'll Love
For today's youth, it's often hard to figure out what they want to do in life--according to Deborah Ramo, Founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Amavitae (www.amavitae.com). To help fix that, the startup has created a mobile app to guide people through their strengths, interests, key skills, and more to guide them along the way to a career they'll love. We sat down with Deborah to hear more about the app, why millennials and other youth are having such a hard time figuring out a career, and the (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 19, 2017(Full story)

Report: Price For Faraday Future's FF91 Nearly $300,000
Los Angeles-based electric car maker Faraday Future rolled outs its first production vehicle, the FF91, at CES earlier this month, but had not announced pricing. However, a new report says that LeEco CEO Jia Yueting has said that the new FF91 will cost "less than $300,000"--a staggeringly high price tag for an electric vehicle. Faraday Future has not officially announced the expected pricing for the vehicle.
posted on Thursday, January 19, 2017(Full story)

MATCHCo Acquired By Shiseido
MATCHCo, a developer of a mobile app which helps users match their skin tones to cosmetics, has been acquired by Japanese cosmetics firm Shiseido. MATCHCo had its marketing and operations in Santa Monica, with engineering in Palo Alto. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. MATCHCo was founded by Dave Gross and Andy Howell in 2013, and launched its first app in November of 2015. Shiseido said that MATCHCo will remain based in California.
posted on Thursday, January 19, 2017(Full story)